Hackers Actively Exploit WordPress Zero-day Flaw

Wordfence, a WordPress security company, has warned of a zero-day WordPress vulnerability that is now being exploited by attackers.

The bug is in a WordPress plugin called BackupBuddy. BackupBuddy is a plugin that allows users to back up their entire WordPress installation from within the dashboard, including theme files, pages, posts, widgets, users, and media files.

According to Wordfence, the vulnerability is rooted in the Local Directory copy function, which is designed to store a local copy of the backups. The vulnerability is the product of an insecure implementation that allows attackers to download arbitrary files to the server.

“This vulnerability makes it possible for unauthenticated users to download arbitrary files from the affected site which can include sensitive information,” Wordfence said.

The bug affecting BackupBuddy is tracked as CVE-3022-31474 and has a severity of 7.5. While the bug affects versions 8.5.8.0 to 8.7.4.1, it was fixed in version 8.7. 5, which was released on September 2, 2022.

Wordfence stated that the active exploitation of CVE-2022-31474 began on August 26, 2022. Since then, the platform has been able to block nearly five million attacks, with the majority of intrusions attempting to read files such as /etc/passwd, /wp-config.php,.my.cnf, and .accesshash.

Details of the vulnerability remained secret to prevent further exploitation by attackers.

“This vulnerability could allow an attacker to view the contents of any file on your server that can be read by your WordPress installation. This could include the WordPress wp-config.php file and, depending on your server setup, sensitive files like /etc/passwd,” said the plugin’s developer, iThemes.

BackupBuddy users are advised to upgrade to the latest version to fix the bug and prevent it from being compromised by attackers. Those who are already compromised should reset the database password, change WordPress Salts, and rotate API keys stored in wp-config.php.

The sources for this piece include an article in TheHackerNews.